In a manufacturing environment, workers are tasked with the responsibility to create a product that is ready for shipment. A product is created from a collection of parts and assemblies identified by a bill of materials and built according to a series of assembly instructions. A part used in the manufacture represents a single item used in the assembly process. Associated with a part is information such as a part number, description, and various information related to location sourcing and the like.
An assembly is the combination of a collection of parts, which represents the end result, or the product manufactured, of an assembly process. A subassembly represents a component, which can be treated as a part in another assembly process, while a final assembly is the ultimate output from the assembly process, which represents a product ready for shipment.
A bill of materials contains a list of parts and assemblies including quantities needed to create the product, while the assembly instructions document the steps necessary to combine the parts and assemblies together to create the product.
Typically the assembly process is divided up among multiple workers, where each worker is responsible for completing a subset of tasks necessary to build an assembly. Each worker is assigned a fixed amount of time to complete these tasks, which is known as the task time. The dividing line between the subset of tasks is known as a fence.
The role of a user is to study the assembly process and determine the methods that should be used to assemble a particular product from the parts and subassemblies identified on the bill of materials. This method is then transformed into a document known as assembly instructions.
Assembly instructions often take the form of a paper document that outlines the individual steps needed to assemble the product. These steps may consist of simple text, or they may consist of text supplemented with graphics such as a picture or a schematic diagram. Once developed, the assembly instructions are copied and distributed to various locations on the assembly line for use by the workers as needed.
In the conventional manufacturing process, the sequence of operations is an aggregation of finite steps that are performed by the assembly worker, generally without prompting or continuing interactive assistance.
The present invention adds both a graphical interface to the manufacturing process enabling the individual worker to visualize their particular actions as well as receive interactive prompting on the process confirming successful assembly or corrective suggestion for incorrect or unsuccessful steps.